Little River Chapter of Trout Unlimited

Cannot believe Labor Day is just around the corner!
The summer LRCTU picnic was a great day for all—even if it was a tad warm. Talk about being tied to a hot stove… Bob and Joyce were in it to win it on that grill. I’m pretty sure Joyce shrank a couple of inches from water loss alone!

I’m not sure everyone realizes just how hard the LRCTU Board works to keep our chapter successful and involved. I didn’t either—until I was smack in the middle of it. Kudos to our board! I’m continually impressed by their dedication to our mission, to growing our membership, and to getting the word out about who we are and what we do. LRCTU is lucky to have such passionate people who care deeply.

That said, the board is nothing without our members—and we have some amazing ones. When I first joined, I’ll admit I was intimidated. It felt like everyone knew what was going on except me. Then I dipped a toe in and realized… they did know what was going on—but they were more than happy to share their knowledge and welcome me in. The best part? Being able to give what you can, when you can—no expectations.

So here’s my challenge: if you see a cleanup, trout release, or project coming up—just show up. No RSVP, no fuss. An hour of your time can make a big difference—and you might meet people you’d never have crossed paths with otherwise. Maybe even some new fishing friends.

Hope your summer has been full of great stories (and maybe a few fish tales). See you at the August meeting—Thursday, August 28th. Still traveling? I’ll catch you in September.

Fish on!
Kim

“Three-fourths of the Earth’s surface is water, and one-fourth is land. It is quite clear that the good Lord intended us to spend triple the amount of time fishing as taking care of the lawn.” – Chuck Clark

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The weekend before the 4th, I headed to North Carolina and the Tuckasegee for a smallmouth float. We started at 7:30 a.m., drove to one put-in, but the river was nothing but mud. We tried another put-in — not much better. So we drove an hour and a half back to get on the stream.

At the spot, Jeremy — a guide I’ve known for years — asked, “You want to take a nice little path or slide down a hill?” Naturally, I chose to slide. But when I saw the 30-foot vertical drop, slick with moss, no footholds, nothing to grab onto, I hesitated. “Are we coming back up this way?” I asked. “Nope,” Jeremy said. “Where we get out upstream, there are stairs.” Down we went.

My casting was off, but the afternoon was beautiful. Downstream, mist danced over the water and rocks. I love that timeless view downriver. As we worked upstream, a massive pile of trees blocked our path. We couldn’t go around — a huge, active hornet’s nest hung over the river — so we climbed over.

As we changed flies, fat raindrops began to fall. We both said, “It’ll pass.” Then the sky opened up and dumped buckets on us. Still, we agreed, “It’ll pass.” Suddenly the sky lit up like fireworks, followed by a loud crack. “Time. To. Get. Out. Of. Here!” We scrambled back over the trees and up the now-slippery hill. I pulled myself up along rocks and mountain laurel until, nearing the top, Jeremy was able to get ahead and haul me up the rest of the way.

At the truck, we were laughing, soaked, out of breath — exhilarated. On the drive home, retelling the story, I realized: even though I didn’t catch a fish, fly fishing had once again given me another unforgettable story to add to my life’s archives. Most days start and end pretty normally. But a day with a fly rod in hand is the beginning of a mystical, magical journey — where beauty and adventure always await.

Here fishy, fishy, fishy!

Hope to see you at the picnic!!!!
Kim Emery
President

“Often I have been exhausted on trout streams, uncomfortable, wet, cold, briar scarred, sunburned, mosquito bitten, but never, with a fly rod in my hand have I been less than in a place that was less than beautiful.”
-Charles Kuralt

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If collective data provided important information to do your job or any other aspects affecting your world, then you can understand how LRCTU heavily depends upon our volunteer data. Not just in the volunteer work that we do, but the volunteer hours involved in that work.

Our volunteer hours justify grant requests, donations, and give the GSMNP data they need for planning and funding. This data is the very heart of survival for LRCTU, its mission, and how we can help the GSMNP Fisheries.

Using the current national data for what a volunteer hour is worth, each hour entered is plus $34.79 making every volunteer hour NOT ENTERED, NEGATIVE $34.79. Not entering hours cancels out someone else’s hard work!

In the last 4 years, volunteers donated 13,314 hours which is equivalent to donating $460,000.00 to LRCTU and GSMNP!

And then there’s this; there is one of me and one of Bernie Maloy with at least 83 people volunteering. It takes you a lot less time to quickly fill out the form for each event than it does for me and Bernie to comb through the list to find what’s missing, contact everyone, make sure it’s entered, contact again if not. Some might wait until March, when we send out the PLEASE for year-end reporting. We appreciate hours entered, but when it’s all at once, it skews the data for YTD, making it hard to keep track in real time.

So, for every volunteer event you participate in, I am (begging, pleading with) asking you to be kind to a couple of old brains! It might seem trivial to you, but it’s a huge thing for the collective us.

If you want to check to see what hours you have entered already, go to VOLUNTEER HOURS RECORDED.  This is a View Only file.  In order to actually enter your hours, access our website at LRCTU.org.  Find Submit Volunteer Hours Here! under our logo on the right-hand side of the page.

Looking forward to the picnic Thursday, July 24! There will be great burgers, potluck, and of course, having fun. Bring a chair, a spouse or friend, and come early if you want to fish; it is on the river, ya know!

Hope your summer is off to a great start!
Kim Emery
President

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